


First Watch

by mythireandfire



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 01:04:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5950357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythireandfire/pseuds/mythireandfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first week after Sole Survivor hires MacCready, they come to a slight argument over sleeping arrangements.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Watch

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first piece with my Sole Survivor and MacCready and this is just me getting a feel for them and whatnot. I hope you enjoy it!

The first night after Allison hired MacCready, he insisted on taking watch when they bedded down in an old home just outside of Diamond City. He had expected a fight or argument of some kind—he knew he would have fussed over having a stranger watch over him while he slept—but she had given him a knowing look, shrugged, and said. “Alright, wake me in a few hours to take point.”

MacCready grinned and tipped his hat at her. “I aim to please, boss.”

She’d snorted at him and then lied down using her pack as a pillow. Mac leaned back against the wall so he could watch the street out through the window, while also having a clear view of the door that led into the room. He stayed awake all night and didn’t stir Allison from her sleep until the first pink light of dawn rose over the horizon.

“Dammit, MacCready,” she swore at him groggily, “you should have woken me up hours ago. You need sleep too.”

“Sleep is for the weak,” he responded, letting her irritation roll off of him. She grumbled a few minutes more but then went about fixing food for them. Conversation was absent for the duration of breakfast, but MacCready put that to Allison not being a morning person and helped her in starting a fire.

It went like that for a little bit over a week—Mac staying up all night and not waking Allison for her shift—and he could tell that every morning she woke to dawn, she grew a bit angrier. He began to wonder when she would snap at him, and as it turned out it didn’t take long.

They had found a rundown cabin in the woods to hole up in just as the sun was setting over the Boston skyline. It was in surprisingly good condition on the inside—it even housed a cot—but they shoved it aside after eyeing the dubious stains spattered on the mattress. Mac stretched and was about to tell Allison to catch some sleep when she dropped her gear by the door and sat in the entry way with her rifle across her knees.

“I’m taking first watch tonight,” she stated in a voice that brooked no argument. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.

“Now wait a second here,” he sputtered. “I’m the one who takes first watch and you take second!”

“I would agree with you that that is a great routine!” she shot back. “But there’s just one problem with that arrangement.”

MacCready spread his arms out with his fingers splayed. “And what would that be?”

 _“You never wake me up!”_ Allison shouted, her nostrils flaring in irritation.

“So I was letting you get some extra sleep! What’s the harm in that?”

“The harm is that you’ve been dragging your feet the past two days because of sleep deprivation. I pay you to keep me alive, not to make sure I got a good’s night rest! Now shove that paranoia you have of me killing you in your sleep to get my caps back out of that head of yours and get some shut eye.”

MacCready leaned back in surprise. “I never said you were going to kill me in my sleep.”

Allison rolled her eyes at him. “Look, it’s clear you’ve got some trust issues and whatnot, but I swear on God above that I am not the kind of folk to go back on a deal. I like you MacCready—I’m not going to be the thing that kills you.”

He rocked back on his heels and tried his most charming smile. “Do like me enough to let me take first watch? I promise I’ll wake you up this time.”

She shook her head at him in exasperation and turned to watch outside the door. “Go to sleep, MacCready. I’ll wake you when it’s your turn.”

He stared at her for a few minutes trying to come up with an argument, but in the end it was his body that gave in before she ever would. Grudgingly, Mac snatched his bedroll from his pack and unrolled it with a snap, pretty much collapsing on it like a disgruntled child. He grunted a few times as he got comfortable, and then turned to where he could keep watch on Allison.

When MacCready woke in the morning, the first thing he noticed was the greasy smell of meat cooking. He groaned as he sat up and flinched against the ray of sunlight that hit him in the face unexpectedly. “What time is it?” he asked his voice rough with sleep.

“An hour or so before noon,” Allison responded, her voice almost coming from a distance.

MacCready couldn’t see her when he scanned the cabin so he made himself stand and followed the smell of food. He stopped in the doorway, put his hands on his lower back, and popped his spine, groaning when the stiffness faded from his muscles. Allison was kneeling by a small fire, turning a chunk of meat on a spit. “You didn’t wake me up for my turn to take watch.” He groaned as he made his way down the steps to sit by her on a log turned makeshift chair.

“Well, as someone once told me,” she started, flipping her hair over her shoulder and giving him a ghost of a smile, “sleep is for the weak.” She turned back to the food and lifted the meat off the fire, pressing her fingers into it to test if it’s done. “Besides, you looked so peaceful it would have been a crime to wake you up. Especially considering that you were lacking a week’s worth of sleep.”

“But it’s almost midday! You are usually in such hurry to get moving I barely have enough time to scarf down even mouthful.”

Allison hummed and bumped her shoulder into his, causing MacCready to smile. “I…have a reason for my rushing. I’ll tell you why one day, but for now I’d rather not talk about it.”

“As long as the reason isn’t people trying to kill you, I don’t have to know.”

“No one is trying to kill me,” she said, then paused. “That I know of anyway.”

“That’s comforting,” he replied dryly.

His tone won another grin from Allison and she proceeded to fully lean against him. The movement caught him off guard and he had to steady himself with his left hand. He didn’t move away though—the warmth she brought with her closeness broke through the chill of the morning. It had been a long time since he’d even allowed anyone be this close—it was new and he welcomed the sensation. They sat in companionable silence for several seconds, both simply content to share the warmth of each other.

Allison was the first to break the silence. “I believe the meat will burn if it cooks any longer. Ready to dig in?”

“Do we have any fruit left?”

She stood to grab her pack and MacCready instantly—strangely—missed her nearness. He was thrown by the sensation so he almost didn’t catch the mutfruit she threw at him. “Last one, MacCready.”

He cleared his throat and mentally shook off his confusion. He proffered the fruit up to her. “You want to split it?”

Scrunching her nose, she shook her head. “No thank you. I’ll stick to the meat.”

“Hey, it’s your loss.” MacCready took a large bite of the mutfruit—and then began to choke when he swallowed the wrong way.

Allison was immediately there and slapped him on the back with enough force that it almost threw MacCready off the log. It worked though—the piece of fruit came out his windpipe where he was able to breathe.

“That’s some arm you’ve got,” MacCready managed.

“Good for you that I do too, otherwise I’d be taking that duster of yours.”

“Over my dead body—oh wait.”

Allison grinned. “C’mon, Mac, let’s eat and then hit then road.”

 


End file.
